Baltimore Orioles vs Tampa Bay Rays Box Score on Jun 23, 2017

The Sports Xchange
Jun 23, 2017

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- The Tampa Bay Rays moved four games above .500 for the first time in nearly two years, surging past the Baltimore Orioles with an easy 15-5 win on Friday night at Tropicana Field.

The Rays (40-36) jumped out to a 9-2 lead in the first three innings and reset their season high for scoring, getting home runs from Derek Norris, Shane Peterson and Logan Morrison. The slumping Orioles (35-38) matched a dubious major league record by allowing at least five runs in 20 straight games -- the first team to do so since the 1924 Philadelphia Phillies.

Tampa Bay roughed up starter Ubaldo Jimenez (2-3), who didn't survive the third inning. Rays starter Chris Archer (6-4) threw six innings, not needing his best stuff to win his second straight start.

The Rays got four RBIs each from Evan Longoria and Peterson, who was called up before the game and had a two-run home run. Tampa Bay hasn't been four games over .500 at any point since July 1, 2015, but has now won three of four games on their current homestand. Morrison's home run was his 22nd, extending his team lead as he makes a case for the All-Star Game.

The Rays set their season high with 14 runs by the fifth inning, with unlikely stars. Norris, potentially being designated for assignment this weekend, had three hits, including a two-run home run.

Jimenez allowed nine runs on seven hits before his early exit. He walked the first two batters on 10 pitches, advanced them with a wild pitch and saw both score on a two-run single by Longoria. Morrison followed with an RBI triple and scored on an infield groundout for a 4-0 lead.

Archer gave up two runs on three hits in the second, but Longoria's sacrifice fly extended the lead to 5-2 in the second. Peterson hit a two-run home run in the third, and then Norris did the same to chase Jimenez.

Jonathan Schoop's two-run double in the fourth cut Tampa Bay's lead to 9-4, but the Rays got five more runs in the fifth off reliever Miguel Castro. Castro came in with the bases loaded and all three runs scored, first on a bases-loaded walk to Longoria, then back-to-back infield errors.

Peterson's sacrifice fly made it 14-4.

NOTES: The Orioles got RHP Darren O'Day back from the 10-day disabled list, and he pitched a scoreless eighth inning. RHP Gabriel Ynoa was optioned to Triple-A Norfolk to make room. ... The Rays placed OF Colby Rasmus on the 10-day disabled list, retroactive to June 19, with left hip tendinitis. Orioles manager Buck Showalter was back in the dugout after missing Wednesday's game for the birth of his first grandchild. Bench coach John Russell had stepped in Wednesday.